Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Saturday, May 17, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received participants in the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies in an audience in the Clementine Hall (in the Vatican Palace). The following is a translation of his address to them:
Dear Cardinals, venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood, dear brothers and sisters,
I am especially delighted to be here with all of you, who are working directly in the Pontifical Mission Societies, an organization at the service of the Pope and Bishops of the local Churches in carrying out the missionary mandate to evangelize all peoples to the ends of the Earth. To Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect for the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples, I wish to first express my sincere gratitude for his words spoken on behalf of all those present. I extend my greetings to the Secretariate and to all the collaborators in the missionary dicastery, priests, religious men and women, and laity. Dearest brothers and sisters, thanks to your intense labor the statements of the Council, according to which “the whole Church is missionary by nature,” become a reality. The Pontifical Mission Societies have the charism of spreading the passion for the Kingdom of God among Christians and establishing it in all places, through the preaching of the Gospel. Begun with this universal character, they were a precious instrument in the hands of my Predecessors, who elevated them to the rank of Pontifical, encouraging Bishops to establish them in their dioceses. The Second Vatican Council justly recognized their fundamental role in the missionary task, “as they are means for both instilling in Catholics, from the moment of their childhood an authentic universal and missionary spirit, as well as for promoting the effective raising of funds for all missions, according to each one’s need” (Ad Gentes, 3e). The Council reflects in a special manner on the nature and mission of the particular Church, recognizing its full dignity and missionary responsibility.
The mission is a task and duty for all Churches, that as communicating vessels share the persons and resources for fulfilling it. Each local Church is a people chosen among nations, gathered in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in order to “make known the proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light” (Lumen Gentium, 10). This is where the Spirit manifests the wealth of His charisms, giving each believer the call and responsibility of the mission. His mission is to seek communion. In the face of the seed of discord among men that our everyday life experience shows us is profoundly rooted in humanity, as a result of sin, the local Church offers the creative force of unity of the Body of Christ.
Pope John Paul II could joyfully proclaim that, “there has been an increase of local churches with their own bishops, clergy and workers in the apostolate... communion between the churches has led to a lively exchange of spiritual benefits and gifts... there is a new awareness that missionary activity is a matter for all Christians, for all dioceses and parishes, Church institutions and associations” (RMI, 2). The Pontifical Mission Societies, thanks to the reflection that have made in recent decades, have been able to insert themselves into the context of the new paradigms of evangelization, and of the ecclesiological model of communion between Churches. Clearly the PMS is Pontifical but it is, by right, also episcopal, in as much as it is an instrument in the hands of bishops to achieve Christ's missionary mandate". “Although they are the Pope’s societies, the Pontifical Missionary Societies also belong to the entire Episcopate and to all the People of God” (Paul VI, Message for the World Day in 1968). They are the specific, privileged, and principle instrument in educating in the universal missionary spirit, for communion, and for the inter-ecclesial collaboration at the service of the proclamation of the Gospel (cf. Statutes, 18).
As well, in this moment in the Church’s history, which is missionary by nature, the charism and work of the PMS has not ended, and it should never be lacking. The mission to evangelize humanity continues to be urgent and necessary. The mission is a duty to which we should respond: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16). The Apostle Paul, to whom the Church is dedicating a special year in honor of the 2000th anniversary of his birth, understood on the road to Damascus, then experienced in the course of his later ministry, that redemption and mission are acts of love. It was love of Christ that impelled him to follow the roads of the Roman empire as a herald, apostle, and defender of the Gospel (cf 2Tim. 2:1-11) and to become all things to all people, in order to win over as many as possible (cf 1 Cor. 22). “Whomever preaches the Gospel participates in the love of Christ, who loved us and gave Himself up for our sake (cf. Eph. 5:2), he is its ambassador and beseeches in Christ’s name: Reconcile yourselves with God! (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20)” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Note on some doctrinal aspects of Evangelization, 10). It is love that must impel us to announce to all mankind, frankly and courageously, the truth that saves (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 28). A love that should radiate everywhere and reach every human heart. Mankind awaits Christ.
Jesus’ words: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Mt. 28:19-20), still represent an obligation for the whole Church and for each individual member of Christ's faithful. This apostolic commitment is a duty and an indispensable right, an expression of religious freedom which has its corresponding ethical-social and ethical-political dimensions (cf. Dignitatis Humanae, 6). The Pontifical Missionary Societies is called to make the 'Missio ad Gentes' the model for all pastoral activity. To them, and in a special manner to the Pontifical Missionary Union, correspond the task of “promoting, that is, of increasingly spreading among the Christian people the mystery of the Church, its effective missionary spirit” (Paul VI, Graves et Increscentes). I am sure that you will continue working with all your enthusiasm so that your local Churches may take up with ever-greater generosity their part in the universal mission. I offer my Blessing to all. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 19/5/2008; righe 83, parole 1103)
